German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, a critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal asylum policies, has told members of his Bavarian conservative party that he wants to resign as party chief, party sources told Reuters on Sunday.

Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered another poor state election result on Sunday October 28 with 27 per cent, down 11.3 percentage points from the 2013 election in Hesse. Her grand coalition partner the Social Democratic Party (SPD) slumped to 19.8 per cent of votes, down 10.9 percentage points, its worst showing since 1946.

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, the European Union’s two most influential leaders, met yesterday with their bitterly divided counterparts for a frustrating “mini-summit” in Brussels, while facing plunging popularity at home.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday she would work with any coalition government formed in Italy, but she also warned that any discussions on economic policy would have to be within the rules governing the euro zone.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday she would work with any coalition government formed in Italy, but she also warned that any discussions on economic policy would have to be within the rules governing the euro zone.

Germany will learn on Sunday whether the Social Democrat (SPD) party’s 464,000 members have voted in favour of a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, opening the way to a new government for Europe’s economic powerhouse.

Top officials in the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives on Saturday warned the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) that failure to stick to agreements on migrants could cause the collapse of the potential new German government.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) faced another barrage of criticism last night from within their own parties over a controversial coalition deal that must still be approved by disgruntled SPD rank-and-file members.

Germany should cap the number of new immigrants to around 65,000 a year, the deputy leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives said, a position that could prove divisive in coalition talks with the Social Democrats (SPD).

Europe is not ready to become the ‘United States of Europe,’ trusted allies of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) have stated, rejecting a vision of Europe proposed by Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), a former coalition partner.